1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an imaging apparatus for reading, processing and copying an image from an original, and relates particularly to an imaging apparatus comprising a counterfeiting prevention means.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Imaging apparatuses in general read an image from an original placed on a copy table or platen, and produce a faithful reproduction of the scanned image. These copier technologies, particularly color copying technologies, have advanced so significantly in recent years that copies nearly indistinguishable from the original can now be made. The fidelity of these copies can, of course, also be put to illegal use, including the counterfeit reproduction of paper currency, stock and other negotiable certificates, and other valuable items that cannot be legally copied.
Recent imaging apparatuses have thus been equipped with a means for preventing counterfeiting. The counterfeiting prevention arrangement proposed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication Number H1-3167813 comprises a means for determining whether duplication of the original is prohibited, and a means for converting the image data based on the result of this determination. Imaging apparatuses comprising the counterfeiting prevention arrangement is shown in FIG. 13.
As shown in FIG. 13, this imaging apparatus scans the original 7 with the input device 40, processes the image using both image processors 5A, 5B, and outputs the image through the output device 6 to obtain the hard-copy output 8. To prevent counterfeiting, a counterfeiting prevention arrangement 1 comprising a detector 1A and a prevention device 1B is added to the imaging system doing the copying. Note that this imaging apparatus also comprises a control 2 and editing device 3 connected to the control bus. Using a feature signal of protected currency or certificates, etc., the detector 1A in this apparatus detects when currency or certificates that cannot be copied are placed on the original table and activates the prevention device 1B accordingly. The prevention device 1B thus either stops operation of the image processors 5A, 5B, or modifies the processed image so that a normal copy of the protected currency, negotiable certificates, and other registered documents cannot be made.
An imaging apparatus with this counterfeiting prevention arrangement 1 can prevent simple attempts to counterfeit currency, negotiable certificates, and other valuable documents. This counterfeiting prevention arrangement 1 is not tamperproof, however, and when modified cannot prevent counterfeiting. Such modifications include simple removal of the counterfeiting prevention arrangement 1 shown in FIG. 13 by the user; when the counterfeiting prevention arrangement 1 is removed, the copier functions normally and counterfeiting cannot be prevented. The same is true when the circuit containing the detector 1A and prevention device 1B is cut. Such modifications can be simply performed by anyone with a basic level of knowledge and skill, and it is therefore not possible to provide an imaging apparatus with a tamperproof counterfeiting prevention arrangement.